2013 was an intense but extremely rewarding year for Mozilla. The personal highlight for me was seeing Firefox OS phones go on sale. Something that I’ve been spending much of my time on is working with our local communities to support them in their launch activities. We’ve wrapped up what we called our Wave 2 launches of Firefox OS (Wave 1 finished at the end of Summer). Read the official blog posts — Part 1 and Part 2. I want to say a few words and share some media about the Wave 2 launches in Europe, specifically Hungary, Greece, Serbia, and Italy.

Italy

Starting with the last country out of the gate in 2014, the Italian community moved quickly on tight deadlines and rose to the occasion. Led my longtime Mozillian Francesco Lodolo, they participated in sales training with Telecom Italia (TIM), led promotional activities, and celebrated the coming of Firefox OS. Kudos to Carlo Frinolli in Rome for pulling off some great events during the debut weekend. First up was a street promotion to raise awareness outside a busy TIM store. Then there was a hackathon to raise awareness among web developers and get more apps, followed later by a party for everyone.

Greece

Many communities have already been working on Firefox OS for months beforehand, including Italy and Greece when 25+ App Days were held around the world in January. Greece put together a strong team, with a mix of experienced Mozillians and relatively new faces to tackle all Go To Market (GTM) activities (Comms, Dev Outreach, Social Media, Marketing, and Sales Training). In a collaboration between Cosmote, Mozilla, and other partners, Greece put on another app day in Athens just after launch. It was a day of hacking, talking about Firefox OS, and celebrating. The community was once again out in force helping in every way they could.

Firefox OS Launch Team Greece

Hackers busy at work

Old and New. Firefox OS and the Parthenon

The team is now actively working with Cosmote to find other opportunities to amplify the Firefox OS message in the new year.

Sopler a list making and sharing aplicatlion (1st place winner in AthensAppDays2013 event)

Serbia and Montenegro

Telenor Srbija and Telenor Montenegro were early to embrace Firefox OS both in engaging with developers and with working with our community. Months before release they were running competitions to get apps into marketplace. As a result, Serbia has a high number of quality apps relevant to the local market. The community has been active in sales training, social media, support, and more.

Launch Team Serbia. Spot the imposter.

Many great apps came out of the Firefox OS Challenge sponsored by Telenor

Not resting on their laurels, the team plan to do a series of events into the New Year. First up was a street action in Subotica. By the numbers: 25 Mozillians, 1300+ pictures taken, 2500 shares + 60000 views (Faceboook competition page), 8+ hours on the street, 1 street mural, and 1 Fox.

The team in Subotica on 28 December. Picture courtesy of Mozilla Srbija

Hungary

Last but certainly not least is Hungary. Hungary was in the unique position of being a market with two carriers releasing Firefox OS – T-Mobile and Telenor. Doing double duty in some areas, our community rose to the occasion and indeed was the most active community of all judging by number of events alone. The tireless efforts in this area were led by Marketing Lead Kami, with support from the rest of the team in all the other GTM focus areas. Around launch time there were HQ Days, In-store events, Phone conferences, and a concerted effort to win the hearts and minds of local developers which culminated in a workshop on 23 November.

Apps Selection

If you have read this far, please take a moment to catch your breath and reflect on all the great work that Mozillians have done. I really couldn’t cover everything here, but I hope it gives you some idea of the passion and dedication of our communities. Look for more in 2014. Mozilla is mobile and we’re in this for the long haul. This was just the beginning.